DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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JULY 4 • 2024 | 7
J
N
Rapaport, a world-renowned
comedian and actor who has
responsibly used his platform
in his personal capacity to raise
awareness about the growing
epidemic of Jew-hatred plagu-
ing cities across the nation
after Oct. 7.
The reason for his cancella-
tion was that he was deemed
too “controversial” for his
public views, someone who
actively pushes back against
actual Jew-haters in the world
of entertainment and politics.
Just last month, two more of
Rapaport’s shows in Illinois
and Wisconsin were canceled
due to threats of protests from
the well-organized anti-Israel
crowd. If anyone actually has
seen Rapaport’s material, they
would know his comedic style
and routine is multifaceted
and does not revolve solely
around Jew-hatred or Israel.
The Jewish community was left
with some burning questions:
Why did the Comedy
Castle give in to evil? How is it
acceptable to silence minority
voices — Jewish voices — in
this age of social justice?
On June 21, the Detroit
House of Comedy was set to
host Amanda Seales, a comedi-
an with a track record of pro-
moting real hatred and hostil-
ity against the Jewish commu-
nity, including the indigenous
rights of the Jewish people to
our ancestral homeland and
openly defending Hamas, a
U.S. and internationally des-
ignated terrorist organization.
This is a comedian who has
never said anything about
Israel prior to Oct. 7, but now
seems to believe it shouldn’t
exist.
She has been promoted
by Congresswoman Rashida
Tlaib, has openly mocked
Israeli hostages on social
media, and has embraced her
status as a Jew-hater as a badge
of honor. On Oct. 8, 2023,
she shared a graphic to her
Instagram page from Breaking
the Silence, a controversial
Israeli organization ideolog-
ically synonymous to fringe
groups like Jewish Voice for
Peace and IfNotNow, which
stated, “Hamas’ attack and the
events unfolding since yester-
day are unspeakable. We could
talk about their cruel and
criminal actions or focus on
how our ‘Jewish supremacist’
government brought us to this
point.”
We have heard this antise-
mitic trope — shifting the
blame to Jews for the suffer-
ing we’re experiencing at the
hands of oppressors — before.
During World War II, the
Nazis justified their genocide
of Jews by escalating the trope
about Jews controlling the
world as a struggle against
“Jewish supremacy.” David
Duke, the former Grand
Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan,
literally wrote a book called
Jewish Supremacism: My
Awakening on the Jewish
Question.”
JEWISH VOICES SILENCED
When word got out about
Seales’ upcoming show,
grassroots activists from the
#EndJewHatred movement
rapidly responded with an
email campaign directed to
the two owners of the venue,
John Tobin and Rick Bronson,
detailing her deeply troubling
and extensive history of pro-
moting Jew-hatred, and ask-
ing them to deny their stage
to an openly proud Jew-hater.
Over 5,000 emails were sent
by members of the Jewish
community and our allies to
the venue within a three-day
period, but the Detroit House
of Comedy refused to respond,
and their phone lines were
closed.
People began flooding their
official Instagram page with
condemnations, but instead
of listening to the pleas of
the Jewish community, they
shamefully decided to disable
the comments and tempo-
rarily hide the backlash on
their posts, as if it never hap-
pened. That update prompt-
ed fury from our national
volunteer network, and the
#EndJewHatred movement
mobilized influencers with
large platforms to speak out.
The intensified online
backlash prompted the venue
to eventually restore the
comments, but they couldn’t
restore their integrity as
they allowed Seales to per-
form. As a response to this,
#EndJewHatred sent a truck
to circulate around Woodward
Avenue visually displaying
examples of Seales’ Jew-hatred
and calling out the club for
giving the stage to an individu-
al with such animosity toward
the Jewish community, which
she describes as Zionists.
The truck garnered Seales’
attention after the show, when
she posted four reaction videos
to her social media, and active-
ly proved our point about her
Jew-hatred by invoking numer-
ous classic tropes suggesting
Zionists control the world and
the media.
This #EndJewHatred action
isn’t about cancel-culture; this
is about demanding responsi-
bility and accountability from
those who amplify bigotry
against the Jewish community.
The Detroit House of
Comedy’s complicity in spot-
continued on page 8
Matisyahu concert
performances in
various states
were canceled
due to a campaign
by pro-Hamas
sympathizers.
LEFT: Michael Rapaport’s shows at Mark Ridley’s Comedy Castle in
Royal Oak were canceled because of “security concerns.”
RIGHT: The London Eurovision Song Contest Screening Party was
canceled due to “Israel’s participation,” namely 20-year-old singer
Eden Golan.
BY HAIM ZACH / GOVERNMENT PRESS OFFICE OF ISRAEL